19A should be further strengthened, President’s powers reduced: Dr. Wickramaratne

• Bill passed was “diluted”: 19A draft committee member Dr. Wickramaratne
• Problems between Executive and Legislature due to this
• Says 19A should be further strengthened and President’s power clipped
  
   

Dr. Jayampathy Wickramaratne, who was a member of a Cabinet committee that drafted the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, said yesterday that there should be no going back on the process set in motion to reduce the powers of the Executive Presidency. 

“I agree there is a problem today with an impasse between the Executive and the Legislature but that is because the original draft of the 19th Amendment was diluted to a great extent due to pressure from the UPFA and the SLFP. The UNP did not even have a simple majority when it was passed and hence had to accommodate all parties, many changes were made,” Wickramaratne told reporters.

He said that the provisions to prevent MPs from crossing over was dropped and the composition of the Constitutional Council (CC) was changed to accommodate the UPFA/SLFP MPs.

“During the Committee Stage debate of the Bill, when such changes were suggested I called Ven. (Late) Sobitha Thera who campaigned hard to introduce 19A, to ask if we should go ahead with the diluted bill. He told me; it was better pass it somehow as ‘otherwise even this will not get done’.”

Refuting allegations by President Maithripala Sirisena that 19A was drafted according to a NGOs agenda, Wickramaratne said the Amendment has come about as part of the election pledge of the President and was passed with the consensus of all.

“The President told me he had to go behind many SLFP MPs and even pat them on the back and call them ‘machan’ to get them to vote for 19A. I know he worked hard to get it passed,” Wickramaratne said.

“19A is not a curse to the country. We have to strengthen this further and give more powers to the Parliament and reduce the President’s s powers,” he said.